The present invention generally relates to data communications and information systems and, more particularly, to advance notification systems and methods for notifying users in advance of the impending arrival of a vehicle or user, for example but not limited to, a bus, train, delivery van, plane, fishing vessel, or other vessel, or user walking or riding, to or at a particular stop.
There are many situations when it is desirable for people to know of the approximate arrival time of a particular vehicle, the distance of a particular vehicle approaching, when a vehicle crosses particular location points, and when a particular vehicle is leaving its last stop, all shortly before the vehicle is to arrive at a particular destination. With such information, passengers, users, and companies can adjust their schedules accordingly and avoid having to wait on a particular vehicle to reach a particular destination. For example, a user having to pick up a friend or relative at a commercial bus station either has to call the bus station to find out the approximate arrival time (information which is oftentimes unavailable) or plan on arriving at the bus station prior to the scheduled arrival time of the bus and hope the bus is not delayed.
Another example includes a user walking and carrying a device such as a mobile phone or communication device with a location device, such as global positioning system (GPS) receiver, connected for sending location information to a control unit. This control unit can broadcast a user impending arrival time, distance to be traveled before arriving, specific location points and/or the time when leaving their last stop. This information may be broadcast to an employer, spouse, parent, or other user, when the vehicle/user reaches a predetermined location.
Another example involves school children that ride school buses. School children who ride buses to school often have to wait at their bus stops for extended lengths of time because school buses arrive at particular bus stops at substantially different times from one day to the next. The reason is that school buses are not always the best-maintained vehicles on the roads, frequently operate during rush hour traffic, and must contend with congested urban/suburban conditions. As a result, school children are forced to wait at their bus stops for long periods of time, oftentimes in adverse weather conditions, on unlit street corners, or in hazardous conditions near busy or secluded streets. If it is raining, snowing, windy and cold, and/or even dark, such conditions can be unhealthy and unsafe for children.
Yet another example is in the commercial overnight package delivery industry, wherein packages are delivered on a tight schedule.
It is desirable to notify a user at a delivery stop for better customer preparation as the vehicle approaches. By the customer becoming better prepared and a delivery driver being able to deliver more packages per day, an overnight package delivery company can increase profits by requiring fewer vehicles to deliver more packages in a business day. Additionally, individuals already try to project the arrival of a vehicle or package by online package tracking services provided by commercial delivery companies, such as the United Parcel Service (UPS), Federal Express (FED-X), and others. Although traditional methods used in determining when a vehicle is to arrive at a stop is effective in some cases, a more precise method using a pre-warning message can be more helpful in providing accurate information. Currently, such vehicles, in order to ensure being able to deliver all packages in the same day, keep loads at a lower capacity and often predetermine the need for excessive waiting times at a percentage of vehicle stops when customers react slowly to their arrival.
Thus, generally, it would be desirable for a user to know when a vehicle (such as a bus, truck, train, plane, user, or the like) is (a) a particular time period (for example, number of minutes or seconds) away from arriving at a destination, (b) a particular distance (for example, number of miles or height) away from the destination, or (c) at a particular location among a set of location points, so that the user can adjust his/her schedule and avoid arriving too early or too late.
In the past, in order to combat the arrival time problem in the context of school buses, student notification systems have been employed that use a transmitter on each bus and a receiver inside each student home. U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,661 to Boone et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,350,969 describe systems of this type. When the school bus and its on-board transmitter come within range of a particular home receiver, the transmitter sends a signal to notify the student that his/her school bus is nearby. While such notification systems work satisfactorily under certain circumstances, nevertheless, these systems are limited by the range of the transmitters and require the purchase of relatively expensive receivers for each student. In addition, such systems provide little flexibility for providing additional information to the students, such as notifying them of the delayed arrival of a bus, alternative bus route information, or information regarding important school events.
Briefly described, the present invention provides for advance notification systems and methods for notifying a user of an impending arrival of a vehicle as the vehicle approaches a particular stop. Notification of a vehicle arrival may be in the form of, but not limited to, predefined locations, predefined times, and/or predefined distances, and may occur when the vehicle is leaving its last stop before approaching the particular stop. The advance notification system generally comprises a vehicle control unit (VCU) disposed on each vehicle and a base station control unit (BSCU) which is configured to communicate with all of the vehicle control units and with a user computer, pager, television, and/or telephone.
The VCU includes different types of configurations, based on the system application. In a first system configuration a vehicle control unit includes a vehicle communication mechanism controlled by the vehicle control mechanism, a global positioning system (GPS) location device or package delivery indicator for determining actual vehicle positioning, and, optionally, one or more input devices, e.g., a bar code scanner, hand held remote data entry device, or switches (such as buttons) that may be operated by the vehicle driver, for the purpose of relaying messages to the BSCU. The control mechanism is adapted to initiate or receive data communications utilizing the vehicle communication mechanism when the vehicle location and/or package delivery information needs to be uploaded to the BSCU. In the preferred embodiment, the vehicle communication mechanism is a wireless communication interface, such as a mobile telephone, radio frequency (RF) transceiver, or other suitable device.
In a second system configuration, the vehicle control unit includes a vehicle communication mechanism controlled by the vehicle control mechanism, and/or sensors (e.g., global positioning system receiver, door opening, package delivery indicator, ignition switch input, etc.) which convey to the vehicle communication mechanism their vehicle sensor information for determining location.
In a third system configuration, the vehicle control mechanism and sensors include the packages and delivery list for signaling to the vehicle communication mechanism and the vehicles"" stops. The BSCU determines each stop address and/or time of last delivery for the timing of each message to the user computer address.
The control mechanism is adapted to initiate communication utilizing the vehicle communication mechanism when the time elapsed and/or traveled distance of the vehicle at any of the particular positions is either ahead of or behind the scheduled time and/or on a regular basis and/or when a delivery is made, and/or when polled by the BSCU. In the preferred embodiment, the vehicle communication mechanism is a wireless communication interface, such as a mobile telephone""s voice or data channels, radio frequency (RF) transceiver, or other suitable device.
The BSCU has a base station communication mechanism and a base station control mechanism for controlling the base station communication mechanism. The base station communication mechanism receives the vehicle identification and location information and/or delivery information from the VCU. The base station control mechanism may be configured to store vehicle location, compare locations and/or deliveries with a mapping data base, compare user definable requests for advance notification of the vehicle""s impending arrival, and send information to users"" computers, pagers, televisions, and/or telephones for the advance arrival of a vehicle. Additionally, one or more functions of the BSCU internal modules/components may be linked to remote sites, such as a user computer. In one BSCU configuration, a user wishing to be notified of the impending arrival of a vehicle may share some or all part/s of the BSCU operation with software running on a user computer. In this example the user computer equipped with advance notification software may have the control mechanism for comparing locations with a mapping database, comparing user definable requests for advance notification of the vehicle""s impending arrival and the ability to receive vehicle locations, deliveries from a vehicle, BSCU collecting vehicle location and/or delivery information. The computer messages to be displayed with or without audio before the vehicle arrives on a user computer is achieved from networking software and/or advance notification software on the computer network or a user computer. Moreover, when the configuration is set-up on a person""s computer, the computer can activate paging to a pager and telephone calls to other locations with a modem and software for forwarding messages. The preferred mechanism for displaying the arrival of the vehicle at a particular stop location is a remote BSCU sending messages to a user computer over a computer network with or without additional advance notification software, a user computer with advance notification software and receiving vehicle location/delivery information from a vehicle or remote BSCU storing vehicle location information. In the preferred embodiment, the base station communication mechanism is a modem communication device, such as a telephone, RF, cable modem, or combination thereof, for communicating with the vehicle communication mechanism and also comprises at least one telephone modem, RF modem, or cable modem for sending information to users"" computers, receiving information from a BSCU with vehicle location information and/or a computer network for linking BSCU mechanisms over a network to a user computer. Additionally, connecting a television to a user""s computer and the user""s computer operating software/hardware for displaying images onto a person""s television screen when a vehicle is approaching. This type of display is accomplished in many different methods including, over existing programming, similar to on screen programming/remote control commands displays.
The advance notification message is to advise a user of the impending arrival of the vehicle. Preferably, a computer can exhibit a distinctive video and sound so that the message recipient will be informed of the arrival of a vehicle. A user computer may exhibit a display on the monitor or attached television of a video and/or sound, so that the recipient may be notified of the vehicle time of arrival, distance before arriving, particular location, and/or its last stop, all of which are predefined by the user, passenger, or service provider.
In accordance with a significant feature of the present invention, the computer network is used to advise users of a vehicle""s impending arrival. Moreover, a user computer may display an impending time of arrival, distance to be traveled before arriving and the vehicle""s actual location on a map when the vehicle reaches a predetermined location.
It should be emphasized that while the present invention is particularly suited for commercial overnight delivery applications, there are many other applications. As examples, the advance notification system and method of the present invention could be employed with commercial buses, trains, planes, pickup vehicles, fishing vessels, other transportation vehicles, delivery vehicles, and individuals carrying location devices and/or delivery sensors and/or other sensors for determining location by a remote computer for advance notification messaging.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following drawings. All such additional objects, features, and advantages are intended to be included herein.